Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows. Keeps me going. There was something else i wanted to say but i can't think of it. Enjoy!

~88888~

When the alarm had gone off that morning, David had immediately noticed the absence in the bed beside him. However he didn't find it that unusual. It wasn't that uncommon for his wife to get up before him. Therefore, he got up, made himself decent and left the bedroom. He expected his wife to be in the kitchen but she wasn't, he couldn't hear any noise coming from the bathroom; knocking only confirmed his suspicions. He eventually found his wife in his grandson's room, sound asleep. Evidently she had moved during the night. He leant against the doorframe for a moment, watching his wife sleep with a small smile on her face. She had always looked ridiculously good when she slept. Silently he shut the door, choosing to let his wife enjoy her sleep in.

The rest of the apartment was silent which he found unusual. Emma was usually one of the first to rise in the house. Her bed was empty and looked largely unused. Her coat was also missing. He couldn't figure where she might have gone, but he assumed there were only a few places. Still, he decided for the moment it wasn't worth worrying about. He figured she had just gone into the Sherriff's office early, get an early start on paperwork. He decided he'd join her, after breakfast of course. As he looked through the fridge he tried Emma's cell phone. He found it a little unsettling that he could hear it ringing in her bedroom: that was most unlike Emma. He then tried the Sherriff's station number. The line went to voicemail; again he found it a little unsettling. He tried it again, just in case she had ducked into the bathroom, but again it went to voicemail. He left a brief message, just to get her to call him.

His breakfast hunt wasn't going so well either. The fridge search had yielded nothing, unless he fancied last night's leftovers or the cuts of lamb that were meant for that night's meal. Instead he decided he'd dash out and grab some milk and some eggs. Make something decent for breakfast; hell he may as well make some pancakes or scrambled eggs for his wife. He wrote a quick note for Mary Margaret and attached it to the fridge door. He figured whilst he was out he'd check in at the station, see if there was anything Emma needed his help with. If not, he was going to fix that thermostat.

It was on his way to the market that he stopped in at the station. An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach as he saw that the building was in exactly the same state that he had left it in the night before. He tried the station number whilst he checked the building's back door. He could hear the phone ringing, but there were no lights on inside, and no sound that anyone was present. The clock tower showed the time as being a little after 8.15; he looked around, thinking where else Emma could be. And suddenly it hit him; she must have been having breakfast with Henry. As Granny's was only a few doors away, he figured he may as well duck in and check.

The moment he entered the diner, he realized how unlikely it was that they would still be there; Henry had to catch his bus at 8.20. As he was expecting there was no sign of Henry or Emma. He nodded at some of the dwarves as they were leaving, and noted Dr Hopper and Granny conversing with Ruby at the end of the bar. Just as he was about to leave he noticed Neal in one of the back booths. As he made his way over to the man, Henry came out of the bathroom.

"Ready to go, champ?" He heard Neal say.

"Hey David!" Henry beamed at his grandfather, speaking over his father.

Neal turned and saw his father in-law approaching them. He stood as the other man reached them. "Hey little man, we gotta go!" He said to Henry before turning to David. "Not to be rude or anything, but I really gotta get Henry to the bus." He apologized.

David nodded. "I won't keep you, but quickly, have either of you seen Emma? She wasn't in the apartment this morning." He queried as they moved towards the door.

"No we haven't. She's probably just getting an early start at the station." Neal shrugged. "Sorry, we really have to go."

"Bye David." Henry called as he slipped out the door.

David waved but he didn't feel particularly reassured. He knew Emma was an adult and there was nothing to stop her making plans without consulting anyone, but she wasn't at the station, and she wasn't meeting Henry for breakfast. David couldn't think of anything else Emma might be doing. He knew it wasn't uncommon for her to go for morning runs, but usually she would be back well before he and Mary Margaret would be awake.

"I prefer it when it's still dark; I like watching the sky get lighter as the sun gets closer." She had said to him the first morning he found her wide awake as he stumbled still a little bit asleep into the kitchen.

He moved to the bar where Archie was now talking just to Granny. For all he knew Emma was out for a slightly later run than what she normally did. Granny or Ruby usually opened up early, and Archie always took Pongo for morning walks, one of them might have seen her.

"Hey have either of you seen Emma?" He asked them both.

"She's probably just ov-"

"Over at the station." David finished Archie's sentence. "Sorry, I've already been by the station and she's not there. She goes for runs sometimes; you haven't noticed her anywhere around town, have you?"

"Sorry, haven't seen her. I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation." Archie shrugged.

"I haven't been in all morning; let me get Ruby, she might have seen her earlier." Granny offered ducking into the back. Both women were back in the diner almost immediately.

David nodded, looking at Archie who had resumed his breakfast.

"Hey David," Ruby's cheery voice sounded as she emerged from the kitchen, "sorry I haven't seen Emma today. I'm sure she's just at the station." She shrugged, smiling weakly.

"Don't worry about her too much; she's an adult. And there's a bunch of different places she could be." Granny offered. "Any way, while you're here, can I get you some breakfast?"

David shook his head, tapping the counter and moving to leave.

"Hey David?" Ruby called, right as he reached the door. "A couple of days ago I saw Henry down at the docks talking to Hook; she might have gone by to see why?"

David left the diner with a frown on his face. He had absolutely no idea why Henry would have gone to see Hook. He thought about asking him before he went to school, but looking up and down the street, he knew it was too late. He headed back to his pick-up, having another look in at the station. His unease wasn't lifted in any way when he found the doors still locked.

Where else could she have gone so early? Regina's? Gold's? His trip to the market was all but forgotten. He thought about heading over to Regina's, but he doubted Emma would have gone there. The clock tower said it was nine as David turned his engine back on. No, Regina was likely at the Mayor's office by now. He thought about driving over to see her, but he figured it was too much of a long shot. He thought about dropping in on Gold; Emma might be having an early lesson. But that too he thought was doubtful. No, he decided to follow Ruby's suggestion and visit Hook. As he pulled up at the docks, he already thought it was a dumb idea.

No matter what reason it was that Henry had visited Hook, he truly doubted that Emma would choose to visit him about it first thing in the morning. Still, he was here now, it couldn't hurt.

The Jolly Roger was resting lazily against the dock. Save for a few seagulls flying overhead and making themselves comfortable about the mast and higher sails, there was no sign of any life aboard. David truly doubted that Emma would have been here, and if she had been he found it highly improbable that she would still be here, but if she was still here, he imagined that she and Hook would be above decks.

"Hook?" David called from the dock.

There was no response. David boarded, looking everything over, looking for some indication that Emma was or had been here. But everything was still, what was worse, was that there weren't even any scuff marks in the snow that powdered everything. No one was here; no one had been here.

Sighing, David was on the cusp of leaving when a noise filtered up from below. In that moment, David made a decision, one that he would forever regret.. It was unlikely that Emma was here, unlikely that she had been here, but Hook had proven himself a skilled seeker. David figured it would be handy if he got Hook to keep an eye out – hell it couldn't hurt. And any way, he strongly doubted that his daughter was in any real trouble. Still, David didn't like the man, and the sun was already shining quite high in the sky; it was time for the pirate to get up. With that in mind, David descended below decks, not even stopping when he got to the pirate's door.

"Hook, get up we need your help Emma's go-"

David lost all concept of time and space as entered the room and found the pirate and his daughter. He could do nothing but stare at the conjoined, flushed and highly disheveled bodies before him. This was a nightmare, a strange, evil, scary nightmare. Up until this point in his life, nothing had caused David Nolan OR his Enchanted Forrest counterpart to stand frozen in time having seen something truly disconcerting. No, seeing his daughter in bed with a man he hated – he didn't hate Hook before hand, just greatly disliked him, but he definitely did now – had definitely been the think to polarize him.

He realized they were talking to him, but their voices were nothing more than strange echo's in his mind.

"What the hell is going on here?" His voice felt coarse, like he had swallowed a couple of pounds of gravel.

But he felt the question needed to be asked. Emma was with Neal; she was in love with Neal. Hook was a footnote in their story. Adult or not, Emma knew better than to get into such a position with the infamous pirate.

"David go!" She shouted at him.

David couldn't argue. Actually he refused to argue. He had to get out of that room, had to find something very sharp and cut this newly acquired image out of his mind. His feet didn't stop until he was back in the apartment. It wouldn't be until later that he remembered he'd left his pick-up at the docks.

He sat down at the counter, unblinking, unthinking, unfeeling. He didn't hear his wife enter the room, didn't hear the fear in her voice. He didn't know anything until he felt her fingers on his chin, saw her eyes meet his. He swallowed, hard. He had absolutely no idea how to form the words to even suggest to his wife what he had just seen. Would she even believe it? No, she wouldn't, of course she wouldn't! The very idea of Emma and Hook k-k – he couldn't even think it, how was he going to say it! No, the very idea of Emma and Hook k- whatever, was absurd!

"David?" She was watching him with fear etched into her face; she was only making this harder.

In that moment the door swung open and Emma stormed in. David knew that no matter what explanation she had to offer, nothing was going to rid him of the image of her whimpering body beneath the pirate that he, now more than ever, wanted nothing more than to kill, maim, or otherwise seriously injure.

~88888~

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